New women’s pro hockey league to launch in January 2024

A new professional women’s hockey league is set to begin play next January after a deal that brings together the two rival factions in the sport.

Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner Mark Walter and tennis legend Billie Jean King will help run the new league after Walter’s firm purchased unspecified “assets” of the Professional Hockey Federation (PHF).

The deal ends a yearslong feud between the PHF and the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association (PWHPA), a group made up of most of the U.S. and Canadian national team players who were unwilling to join the league formerly known as the NWHL.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to advance women’s sports,” said King. “I have no doubt that this league can capture the imagination of fans and a new generation of players. I want to thank Mark and Kimbra Walter for their vision and commitment to investing in women’s sports.”

The PWHPA was certified as a union this spring and has completed negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement. A 62-page CBA was presented to PWHPA members on Thursday night, and they will have until Sunday night to ratify it and the new league’s constitution, said one of the people, who has received the document.

If approved, the deal will run through 2031 and features a minimum salary of $35,000 for players on active rosters, the person said.

The seven-team PHF franchises, including teams in Toronto and Montreal, will cease operations under the terms of the new agreement. PHF players’ existing contracts have been voided, though an agreement is in place to pay those under contract a portion of their salary through September.

“The Toronto Six looks forward to working with this new ownership group building one strong women’s professional hockey league,” said team president Sami Jo Small.

The deal could ultimately bring the NHL to the table. Commissioner Gary Bettman has previously said he and the owners did not want to get involved in a dispute between multiple leagues and would throw its weight behind one, once it was formed.

North American women’s pro hockey has been divided since the PWHPA was formed in 2019 following the financial demise of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

PWHPA members balked at joining what was then called National Women’s Hockey League, which was later rebranded as the PHF. The PWHPA instead pursued its own vision of having a controlling interest in a league with a sustainable economic model and fair wages for players.

Dani Rylan Kearney launched the NWHL in 2015 as an investor-funded four-team league that was essentially run out of an office in New York. The NWHL nearly folded a year later before the league slashed player salaries by nearly half.

Rylan Kearney was forced to step down as commissioner in 2020 when the league restructured its governing model by bringing in private ownership and establishing a board of governors.

Earlier this month, PWHPA board member and U.S. national team star Hilary Knight insisted that the PHF was not the best model for building the women’s pro game, even if the divide in the sport persisted.